The Maternity Champions is ran in Old Oak and the neighbouring area to offer support to both parents-to-be and new parents before and after birth. We aim to make sure that residents know about local antenatal and postnatal services and feel happy to come to us with ideas for new services they might like to see.
Maternity Champions are trained volunteers who are able to help new parents from pregnancy and into the 1st year of the child’s life they will work closely with midwives, health visitors and Children’s Centre workers to increase the uptake of ante and post natal services, guide and support new parents and encourage parents to form social groups and to support each other.

Our Impact

The Maternity Champions are resident volunteers who support new parents, and parents to be. They undertake a lot of wellbeing training to enable them to help others.

Following the two year pilot an independent evaluation was carried out which reported:

• Significant impact on local families, many reporting they have been helped greatly.
• Positive health impacts, particularly in the fields of maternal mental health, reducing isolation, breastfeeding, and uptake of child immunisations.
• Promotion of key Public Health messages including stopping smoking, child oral health, nutrition, and child immunisations.
• Evidence that indicates a positive impact and influence on the local maternity pathway and clear policy fit to compliment ‘Give every child the best start in life’.
• Over 4,300 hours of volunteering during the pilots across the two project areas, and a strong community-based maternity asset.
• Creation of a successful volunteer scheme which has recruited and trained 43 local people and produced notable uplifts for volunteer Maternity Champions.

Success Stories

Maternity Champion volunteer Tess Coen received an Outstanding Contribution award at the Community Champions Annual Conference. Contributing an incredible 200 hours of volunteer time over a one year period. Tess has lived in the Old Oak Community for 26 years, is a mother of 5 and grandmother of 6. Giving her a wealth of experience and a perfect fit to be a Maternity Champion volunteer.
Tess said the best thing about being a Maternity Champion is she feels she can make a difference in people’s lives. She says “I love working with and helping the mothers and babies. It is a most rewarding experience”. She would recommend to anyone in the
community who feel that they have some time to volunteer for the Maternity Champions programme.
She also credits the fantastic free courses you can attend and thinks it “would be a great foundation for anyone who may want to pursue a career in midwifery or childcare”. Finally, Tess thinks becoming a maternity champion is a great way to get to know other people from many different backgrounds and cultures.

“I have made some lasting friendships, I love it, so grateful to Old Oak Staff for inviting me in” Tess, Maternity Champion Volunteer – December 2017

Get Involved

If you live on Old Oak Estate or in the surrounding neighbourhood you can join us as a Maternity Champion volunteer. A Maternity Champion is a local resident who can commit to volunteering on average about 3 to 4 hours a week to inform their family members, friends, neighbours and others about different health topics. We will give you training – including a nationally recognised Level 2 Award in Understanding Health Improvement – to give you the skills, knowledge and confidence to work with us as a health volunteer. Also allthetrainingandexperiencewe provide will help you to build a CV which will show to a future employer how much you have to offer. We can also supply references after you have volunteered with us for six months.

Interested? To find out more about this exciting project, especially if you’re interested in becoming a volunteer contact Carmella (Project Worker Maternity Champions Manager for Hammersmith & Fulham) at Old Oak Children’s Centre on 020 8740 8008 / [email protected]